The Tapestry is made up of Patterns. A mage directs his spells against one or more Patterns, and his magic rends, bolsters, rearranges or transforms that Pattern. Physical obstacles between the mage and his target don’t matter. As long as the mage can perceive the Pattern at all, he can target it. The only thing his magic might normally contend with, besides possible perception modifiers, is the target’s resistance (as described in “Resistance Against Magic,” [1]).
Some spells, however, create a magical effect the caster directs physically at a target, such as a dart or bolt of magical power for an attack. These spells are called aimed spells. Only instant-action spells can be aimed spells.
Conditions change too rapidly to target extended-action spells this way. The spell descriptions list spells that are aimed.
Since an aimed spell is a physical phenomenon directed against a target’s physical body rather than his Pattern, the target does not get to contest or resist the magic, although countermagic can still be effective. For the same
reason, the target’s armor and other ranged attack modifiers are applied to the mage’s spellcasting pool, since the target benefits from armor, cover and going prone, just like avoiding a gunshot or similar ranged attack.
Targets do not normally get their Defense against aimed spells (unless the spell’s description states otherwise), except at point-blank range. Armor is useful only against spells it could conceivably protect against. A bulletproof vest might help stop a stone projectile, but it doesn’t stop electrical or fire damage.
Aimed Spell Drawbacks
- Targets defend as against any ranged attack: cover and/or armor apply, and being prone levies a –2 penalty on the caster’s roll. (If the caster is within close-combat range, the target receives his Defense, but the caster gets a +2 dice bonus against prone targets.)
- The mage suffers range penalties when attacking distant targets. The short-range distance for his aimed spells is equal to his Gnosis x 10. Medium range is twice that, and long range is twice medium range. For example, Arctos’ Gnosis is 3, giving his aimed spells a short range of 30 yards, a medium range of 60 yards and a long range of 120 yards (the equivalent accuracy of a heavy pistol).
- Depending on a spell’s effect, the caster might be able to alter the Target factors of an aimed spell to affect multiple targets. Doing so involves creating a large effect, like a giant ball of fire or an array of projectiles. The Storyteller decides if such an effect is possible for the spell in question. If so, the mage can add extra targets (at a dice penalty of –2 each), but targets must be standing near each other (within three yards of at least one of the others).
- Aimed spells cannot be cast sympathetically, nor can they be cast through a sympathetic conduit created by another caster (such as a scrying window created to spy upon a mage).
- A failure on an aimed spell’s casting roll still manifests the effect. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the spell might hit a nearby object (the car next to the missed target) or background element (the window behind the missed target).[2]
